Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sharing

Having 30 students this year is killing me!!! I've taught 28 for the last few years but for some reason just 2 more is putting me over the edge. I really shouldn't complain because two of the teachers on my team have 32. Budget cuts are to blame. We have a saying in UTAH "Stack em' deep and teach em' cheap". Anyway, I've had a hard time remembering who's turn it is to share at the end of my reader's workshop. I used to just pick who I really wanted or felt I needed to hear from by putting a "share bear" (beany baby bears) on their desk at the beginning of reading. But a few years ago, I had an autistic child in my room and she would have a 'melt down' if she didn't get to share EVERY DAY. So I started writing on the board who got to share that day and she started to understand if her name wasn't there she had to wait and take her turn. This year with so many kids, I want to make sure I hear from every kid every week. So I made little charts. Each child is assigned a day, that way I can schedule the kids that are gone to speech a day they are here for sharing time and not miss them. It is working great. I even added journal share time. So the kiddos know they will share their journal during writing time and a book during reading. Yeah!

Here are my little charts. The clipart, of course, is from DJ Inkers, my favorite! Click on the picture for a PDF.